Tiernan Lynch confirms striking duo exit as Derry City rediscover shooting boots

Ex-Swansea forward Thomas ended his six-month loan spell and is set to join League Two outfit Fleetwood Town while Akinyemi, who scored six goals in 26 appearances since arriving on Foyleside last summer, is expected to return to York City.

Lynch suggested their inevitable exits were the reason behind his decision to play with no strikers for several games this season and on Friday they certainly weren't missed as James Clarke came to the fore in his 'false nine' position to bag a brace against his former club.

Kevin Dos Santos added another while Conor Barr's spectacular first ever professional goal stole the show as Derry bid farewell to their temporary base at Celtic Park with a significant win.

"I'm absolutely delighted for the players - they deserved that," said Lynch. "I'm delighted for the fans and everyone at the football club. It was a tough first part of the season for us and I thought on so many occasions we didn't deserve what we got.

"Tonight, we've been talking about this as a group, we've been creating lots of chances but we just haven't been putting the ball in the back of the net and that was the missing piece of the jigsaw. We said if we can start finding the net with the chances we're creating that we will win more football games and thankfully we did that tonight.

"I don't think tonight's performance was a million miles different to so many other performances. I think the big thing was we put the ball in the net tonight. The chances we created, we scored.

"I know people are probably sick of listening to me talk about data and all that goes with it but we've been creating a huge amount of chances and not getting our rewards for them.

"We have to keep believing that if we keep doing the right things then eventually the ball will go into the net and thankfully tonight we got one of those nights."

Henry Rylah was introduced as a late sub for his final appearance before returning to his parent club Charlton Athletic while Ben Doherty was an unused sub and is expected to complete his switch to Irish League Premiership runners-up Coleraine in the coming days.

Those departures have left Lynch with a squad that's 'thin on the ground,' and he anticipates a busy transfer window this summer which will be driven by newly appointed Director of Football Mark Connolly who received a warm welcome when taking his seat in the Celtic Park stands on Friday night.

"We've been absolutely crippled all year with injuries," explained Lynch. "There are now people who are obviously no longer at the club. We're very thin on the ground at the moment until the transfer window opens.

"That's more credit to this crowd. The work they put in this week and even during the time they were off which nobody sees. I know they take criticism, and people talk about us being off but they worked their socks off and deserved this.

"[Akinyemi and Thomas] are both gone," he confirmed. "That's been obviously on the cards for a while hence playing without a striker. I took a lot of criticism for that. Obviously I wasn't in a position to come out and have that conversation. I wouldn't do that to the players, I thought both players worked their socks off for Derry City Football Club. They both had other things they wanted to do and we totally respect that.

"I think James Clarke was outstanding again tonight with what was asked of him."

The midseason break certainly did Derry the world of good and Lynch will hope this fifth win of the season - a statement victory over one of the league's form teams in the league - can prove a turning point.

"Well, that's up to us. We have to dust ourselves off now. We haven't done anything yet. We've got one win and we have to build on tonight. We have to keep doing the work they've been doing.

" I've struggled to be very critical of them over the last couple of months albeit we hadn't been getting the results. I was watching the games back two or three times and seeing lots of good things they were doing, but we just weren't getting the result. Hopefully we can now gain some belief from tonight and try and build on it.

"I've been telling the boys, believe it or not for the last couple of weeks that result was always coming. We were creating lots of chances and we weren't finishing them. I thought tonight, without being disrespectful to anyone, there was even more in them. To a man they absolutely and utterly worked their socks off. They went and got after the ball from the first minute and deserved everything they got."

When asked if he felt the result would ease the pressure on him after being subjected to intense scrutiny this season, the Derry boss responded: "It's not about me," he answered. "I don't make this about me. I don't take anything that the fans say or do personally. This is their football club. They will be here long after I'm gone and I totally understand their frustration. Hopefully we can put smiles back on the fans' faces because they deserve that."

Celtic Park has proven to be a successful move for Derry as the stunning new hybrid pitch was installed at Brandywell Stadium and Lynch praised the 'collaboration' between the football club and Derry GAA.

"Celtic Park has actually been quite good to us, albeit we never got the wins we wanted against Pats and Shels and the Galway games. I think if someone had offered me, even now, Celtic Park or moving to Sligo or a different ground, I would take Celtic Park.

"There were so many good aspects of it. Some of the games we had up to 7,000 at the game and the fans came out in their numbers, got behind us and made a real difference to us. "Obviously the pitch is a Gaelic pitch which had its difficulties but great credit has to go to all involved for the effort and commitment they put in to get it to the playable state it got to. "A big thanks also to the GAA in having that collaboration and working connection. We're looking forward to getting home if truth be told but it was probably the best of a bad situation."

So as Derry bid farewell to one GAA venue, they will be Galway United’s first visitors to their temporary base at Pearse Stadium next Friday night as the Candy Stripes attempt to win back-to-back games for just the second time this season.